What should you know before using your oven’s self-clean function?

Self-cleaning ovens have been around for quite some time now. They present a new method for oven cleaning, which you may take full advantage of instead of getting the elbow grease yourself, you can let the appliance take care of itself.

There are different types of self-cleaning ovens out there. The model you have will determine how you use it. It is important to know when to run the self-clean function and how to use it.

Answers to these and many other questions are below:

When to self-clean the oven – if you have just acquired a self-cleaning oven at home, you may not be sure when to use the self-cleaning feature of the oven. After all, you may be used to the old-fashioned baking soda cleaning method. As a general rule, you want to run the self-clean when enough spills are present on the bottom sides of the appliance. It is best to utilise the feature when enough spoils build up. Usually, it happens when unpleasant odours may develop, which serves as another indicator it is time to clean the oven.

How often to self-clean the oven – how often you self-clean the oven depends on usage. Consider what and how often you cook. As a whole, you want to keep the oven free of grease and food buildup so that it can cook properly at all times. Any baked-on soils can cause unpleasant smells to drift into the meal or ruin the environment in your home. When that is that case, use the self-clean. You shouldn’t use it for every minor spill, however, especially when a little routine maintenance with a scrub pad or a microfiber towel can fix the issue.

Understand the type of oven you have – Most popular are two types of self-cleaning ovens: steam and high temperature. Do understand that these are two very different methods and the preparation and execution of both are not the same. The only thing such ovens have in common is that you should remove the heavy food particles before running the self-clean cycle.

Remove the racks – for best outcome of the self-clean function, do remove the oven racks. All oven manufacturers agree that is necessary in order to preserve the sheen of the racks and enable full effectiveness of the self-clean. If you leave them in, it may become difficult to slide them out and in the oven.

Safety precautions – when using a high temperature self-cleaning oven, you should be aware that the oven can reach temperatures as high as 900-1000 degrees. As such, you must never leave anything on top of the oven and ensure to ventilate the room it is in properly. Fumes and carbon monoxide released in the process can be dangerous, so remove any pet birds from the vicinity. Steam cleaning ovens are safer, but you must strictly follow manufacturer’s instructions if you want the process to be successful.

A self-cleaning oven can really spare you time and effort. As long as you do the oven cleaning right, you can surely benefit by owning such an appliance.